Online retailers suffering the headache of high returns rates should take notice of start-up Seel1. The company operates as an e-commerce returns underwriter, allowing online merchants to transfer the liability of product returns over to them.
The solution is free for merchants – instead, the shopper who opts in for Return Assurance pays the fee at checkout, which Seel’s AI software calculates based on the probability of an item being returned. Then, if said item is returned within 30 days of sale, Seel pays the refund instead of the merchant.
“Merchants typically won’t know their true revenue until the return window expires six to eight weeks after an order is sold,” co-founder Zack Peng explains2. “That means they often have to reconcile refunds, correct financials and adjust marketing plans for orders sold weeks ago. Instead, [with Seel,] they can pay a variable return assurance fee when an order is sold, and instantly lock in the net revenue and streamline a significant amount of revenue operations.”
Seel currently has around 200 merchants using the solution – which can be integrated via a Shopify app – whilst the number of customers opting to pay for the add on is nearly 25%. The company claims that merchants see, on average, a conversion lift of 5% after adding Return Assurance.